Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with Wesley Hunt

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TRANSCRIPTPublished July 3
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This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 3, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS HOST: This is a FOX News alert.

Throughout the night, we'll take you live to South Dakota where President Trump is set to kick off a historic July 4th celebration at Mount Rushmore.

Welcome to the special edition of "Hannity". I'm Jason Chaffetz in for Sean.

Anti-Trump protesters were attempting to block access to Mount Rushmore. Some even reportedly park their vehicles in the middle of the street and removed the wheels to prevent anyone from getting through. Of course, the show will go on.

In just a moment, the president will board Marine One for a very special flyover ahead of his prepared remarks and a fireworks display.

Joining us now with more on the ground at Mount Rushmore is Jonathan Hunt - - Jonathan.

JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Jason.

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President Trump due to arrive here in a matter of minutes as you said via Marine One just a short time ago. We had a truly spectacular flight path here by Air Force One as the president headed into land at Ellsworth Air Force Base. This is obviously going to be an extraordinary night in terms of those visual moments. It will also be an extraordinary night by the time we get to President Trump's speech.

We understand, Jason, that the president is going to pay tribute to first responders, the police, and military, and to decry protesters who he will describe as a left-wing mob who have tried to destroy American history and are intent on continuing to do so.

Talking of protesters, there was a group of them on one of the approach roads, the main approach road. In fact, to Mount Rushmore earlier today, they were the anti-Trump protesters, also, members of the Lakota Sioux Tribe who believe, of course, this land belongs to them.

The National Guard about two members of the National Guard were sent in to break up that protest. We understand pepper spray was used at one point and we understand that the protests have largely been broken up now.

Those protesters will not catch a glimpse of President Trump anyway. He is not taking any roads here. As I say, he is due to arrive in the next few minutes by Marine One -- Jason.

CHAFFETZ: Jonathan Hunt on the ground in South Dakota -- thank you.

In case you were wondering, the left's hyper-partisan hatred of all things Trump doesn't take a pause on Independence Day. In a since deleted tweet, the official Democratic National Committee's Twitter account earlier this week accused the president of the United States of, quote, glorifying white supremacy, and, quote, by holding a celebration at Mount Rushmore.

Meanwhile, many in the media openly worried that a fireworks display could cause wildfires or contaminate local drinking water.

And after essentially cheering on massive demonstrations across the country for weeks, the folks at CNN are now calling the president's event at Mount Rushmore irresponsible because of the ongoing pandemic.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have an event that is outdoors, 7,500 people are expected, face coverings not required. There will be no social distancing program in place. What would your level of concern be here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Kate, I'm highly concerned. This is beyond irresponsible. This is the behavior of a cult leader who was jumping off the cliff except he is jumping off into a safety net where he has protections around him.

People around him are being tested. He's being tested on a regular basis, while he asks his followers to jump off a cliff and to nothing. I mean, this is extremely dangerous behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Like it or not, thousands are now gathered at Mount Rushmore where President Trump will soon deliver a speech. We're told his remarks will unapologetically highlight American greatness and call out those who hate the country and everything it represents.

Hours ago, he previewed his big speech. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is in great shape and it's going to be in great shape for centuries to come.

We are looking forward to it. I'll be making a speech there. I'll be seeing a lot of people, a lot of different people, and I think it'll be a fantastic evening.

The economy is doing very well. Our job number was the biggest number in history, in the history of our country, bigger even than last month by almost double. So a lot of good things are happening, a lot of very powerful things are happening, and our country is doing very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Joining us now with reaction is senior legal advisor to Trump 2020, Jenna Ellis, along with Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs and civil rights attorney Leo Terrell.

Thank you all for joining us here on this wonderful Friday night.

I want to start with Leo. I want to start with you.

Is there anything wrong with Donald Trump visiting one of the great monuments we have in this country, in Mount Rushmore?

LEO TERRELL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yes, Jason, I am embarrassed. I mean, to answer your question, absolutely not.

To celebrate our independence, this is a great place for the president to celebrate our nation's birthday, but that tweet that the Democrat -- I want people to hear it. The Democratic Party calling it a white supremacy meeting, it's the race card at its highest level and that came from the Democratic Party. They knew it.

And if they want to find a racist, all they need to do is go back to Joe Biden insulting every African-American if you don't vote Democrat. And then, secondly, Kamala Harris calling Joe Biden a racist.

The bottom line is simply this. If you are a Democrat, you can be a racist. But the point here is you accuse the Republicans of being racist and there's no evidence of that whatsoever, it is embarrassing. And I'm embarrassed to be a Democrat tonight.

CHAFFETZ: Congressman Biggs, I want to go to you. You know, politicians of all sorts, every end of the political spectrum, they wrap themselves in the flag. They do things like visit Mount Rushmore.

I mean, we had Hillary Clinton visit Mount Rushmore. You had Barack Obama visit Mount Rushmore. You had Bernie Sanders visit Mount Rushmore. I never heard any of this from the Democrats.

And now, all of a sudden, this is some sort of white supremacy event?

REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): Yes. I mean, Donald Trump has had so much success and he's living in their heads.

I mean, you've got an iconic president going to an iconic monument, and he's going to give an iconic speech about how great America is, and all they've got for this is they're going to play the race card, they're going to yell and scream, and bellyache.

But the reality is, this what the president should be doing and if -- if we were in a rational time, I would say this is a time that he can emphasize a more perfect union and really -- and this would typify that as opposed to the division that they're trying to sow.

CHAFFETZ: Jenna, I've got to tell you, you were with the Trump campaign. When I was a member of Congress and Kristi Noem, who's now the governor of South Dakota, when she was serving in Congress, she told me about a meeting she had with Donald Trump when she very first went in there, Donald -- this is 2017, and she said she invited Donald Trump.

She said, when I become the governor of South Dakota, I want you to come here for Fourth of July. And she said it was amazing, have this great conversation with the president talking about hopefully when I become governor, you can come out.

Now, it's actually coming to fruition, and the Democrats are trying to change the reality of what actually happened and how that invitation even started.

JENNA ELLIS, SENIOR LEGAL ADVISOR TO THE TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Yes, they are.

And, you know, Jason, it's such an amazing honor to be here with the president, and I think we're going to hear from him a spirit of optimism and the generally the American spirit because, you know, truly, the truth on the founding of our country is not built upon perfect men, but that they served a perfect God, and that our American optimism and the opportunity we have for providence, for liberty, and truly prosperity is because of our founding principles and values.

President Trump is such a citizen president because he understands that, he is bringing in that spirit of optimism and opportunity back to Americans. I'm surrounded by thousands of people here who are so excited to be Trump supporters.

You know, as my dad and I were coming in today, we saw all of the flags, all of the Trump 2020.

If you get out of the swamp, you get out of the fake news media, you get out of Joe Biden's basement, you see that America loves President Trump because he has emboldened us with true and genuine leadership as the Republican Party, but even more as Americans because we're built on that eternal truth and that recognition that we're all created equal.

And it's only through that equality and prosperity that our principles and our rights have been endowed by God, our Creator, that then we can genuinely be so proud to be Americans.

And I'm proud of an American, standing in front of Mount Rushmore. This is not a symbol of white supremacy. This is a symbol of imperfect men who recognize the truth of God.

CHAFFETZ: Now, Jenna is there on the ground there in South Dakota.

But, Leo, but this is just but what seems like a daily string of the Democrats telling good old-fashioned Americans that what they do, what they believe in, their country and patriotism is wrong.

At what point do the Democrats overstep their bounds?

I think Americans are tired of being told that you can't love America and if you do, that there's something wrong with you.

TERRELL: I think you're absolutely right. I think you're going to see a shift in the polls because this Democratic rhetoric does not sell to the general public. What's wrong with loving God and country and putting America first?

Jason, I'm going to tell you the truth and I'm just going to be very honest -- the Democrats do not want the president to succeed. They will do everything in their power to defeat this president not because he's not accomplishing things. They are just power-hungry and they are using race, the most -- the most vile thing you can do, race, race, race, every day to portray Trump as a racist.

Donald Trump is not a racist, Democrats. He is not. You are. You need to stop playing the race card and give the American voters some policies and stop the race card. It's ridiculous.

CHAFFETZ: Now, Congressman, I guess part of what bothers me and a lot of Americans is the hypocrisy because like I said, when Clinton and Obama and Bernie Sanders, they all went and visited Mount Rushmore, and nobody said a peep. Nobody -- nobody ever even thought that this was part of, you know, being racist by going to Mount Rushmore, for goodness' sakes.

BIGGS: No. And, Jason, that's the biggest problem I've seen, the biggest exposure of the Democrats is that problem of hypocrisy that they have. I mean, you've got -- you've got everything from this allegation, so, yes, it's OK for Democrats to come but a Republican can't, and you start laying that down on a whole series of violations of what I would call moral code of the United States in our country. It's OK for the Democrats to violate that moral code, but if they're going to attack the president and the Republicans every way they can.

And quite frankly, I think Leo is right. What happens is, they don't have any kind of policy initiatives to make this country a more perfect union. So what they're going to do is castigate everybody else and attack those who love this country, who believe that we are founded on greatness and that's where they're going to be. And that's the hypocrisy is how they live and choose to campaign and do everything that they condemn.

If you want to know what they're doing, look at what the Democrats are condemning us for. That's what they're doing, that's the hypocrisy, that's the evidence of hypocrisy.

CHAFFETZ: Now, Jenna, one of the things the president mentioned before he got on Air Force One this morning was the incredible jobs numbers that have come out in this economy, good news for the economy.

But some of these other networks, they didn't even cover this. They didn't even mention it. They wanted to just play on this idea that this was some sort of white supremacy event by going to Mount Rushmore.

ELLIS: You know, and, Jason, that's where it's all ridiculous that the left will shape the narrative in any way that they can to be anti-Trump. They don't want this economy to rebound. They don't want President Trump to succeed.

But we need to keep telling the truth, and the truth is that this president has built the greatest economy and the lowest unemployment and that's been for minorities, that's been for all Americans. And he has built it once, he is going to rebuild it again.

And, you know, we're pushing through a very difficult time in American history. That's why he is a wartime president, but he is going to push through in leadership, and we have had so many other things in our nation that we have had to push through with courage and with leadership. And the Democrats want to hold that, they want to always focus on the negative.

We have to reject the premise of their arguments and we have to push forward and truth which is that President Trump has built it once, he will build again and he is the only option for 2020 that will secure and protect our rights and liberties that are Founders recognized given by God, our Creator, not our government, and he understands it's the sole purpose of government to serve and protect those rights.

That is not what Joe Biden in the radical left stands for.

CHAFFETZ: Yes. No.

ELLIS: They want more power. They don't want to give you liberty and freedom.

CHAFFETZ: No, I do. I think -- I think the whole election is going to be about liberty and freedom and the economy. And I don't see that Joe Biden has any economic agenda, and if he does, he is hiding it awfully well there in his basement in Delaware.

Jenna Ellis, Leo Terrell, and Congressman Biggs, thank you so, so much for joining us.

You're looking at life pictures of protests in Keystone, South Dakota, that we're monitoring.

Coming up, more live coverage on the ground from Mount Rushmore.

Plus, Laura Logan and Joe Concha will weigh in on today's media, the unyielding partisan hatred of President Trump, as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to this "Hannity's" special: Countdown to 2020.

We are awaiting a Marine One flyover of Mount Rushmore due to happen any second now. And when it comes to you, we're going to show you some live shots of that.

The president boarded Air Force One and took off, flew there to South Dakota, he is on the ground. Supposedly, they're about to board Marine One for another historic flyover of Mount Rushmore.

As President Trump was on his way to Mount Rushmore, the mainstream media mob suddenly decided that the iconic monument to four popular American presidents somehow was racist. The "Los Angeles Times" even published an op-ed asking if the monument will be canceled because of the creator's racist ties.

And fake news and CNN didn't even take Trump's jobs press conference and is downplaying the economy historic bounce back. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bad news is that this is a snapshot that was essentially taken in mid-June. That's when the survey from the Labor Department was field and since then, of course, we have seen a huge spike, a resurgence of infections, and reclosing all of a lot of the very industries that seem to do a lot of rehiring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: Joining us now for a reaction, Lara Logan, the host of FOX Nation's "No Agenda with Lara Logan", and "The Hill's" media reporter, Joe Concha.

We appreciate you both joining us. Have some patience with us because of the president does take off from Marine One and flies over Mount Rushmore, we're going to go to that, but until we actually see those pictures, I want to talk to you about these subjects.

And I want to start with you, Lara, because you've watched this. You've studied this. You've seen how the media reacts to this.

How is it that "The New York Times" suddenly finds this as somehow some sort of racist white supremacist type of event?

LARA LOGAN, HOST OF "LARA LOGAN HAS NO AGENDA" NO FOX NATION: It's interesting. I've also lived it, right, because for more than 35 years, I've been a journalist and when I was working for 60 minutes, when I was working for CBS, I didn't really understand the nature of how -- you know, how critical it was if you stepped outside of the bubble and what it was like.

For example, journalists at FOX News, right, they don't get lifetime achievement awards, they don't get recognized by journalistic institutions, they are permanently under attack. And so, it gives you some interesting perspective.

And I don't look at what "The New York Times" is doing about Mount Rushmore, what "The Los Angeles Times" wrote out of the context of all the coverage of President Trump, and it's kind of interesting because these institutions before the, you know, either FOX News or talk radio, they used to be regarded by everyone as truth tellers and that is the space I like to occupy, that they are on the one side, the noble warriors for the truth.

And on the other side, the FOX News side, is where you have all the other crazy people, who either conspiracy theorists or they're alt-right, they're far right, or they're neo-Nazis, but in the sense, they are racists, right?

And so, that's the framework for the conversation. It's been building since President Trump was elected. It's been wielded as a weapon against anyone and what's remarkable to me about it as they were millions of people in this country, millions and millions of people who don't see it that way. And you will never see "The New York Times" or the "Los Angeles times" or any of these other publications ever give a voice to those people.

If they do, it's very small, it's very narrow and it's very patronizing. It's like why Ohio, rural Ohio voters might be thinking of voting for the crazy man, right? That's the kind of subtext.

And what is so interesting to me is as a journalist, I always try to say, well, OK, this is how some people see it in the country and this is how others see it. But what's happened is you got so many organizations from television, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, "The New York Times", you go into print, and all across the Internet, and it's just one view, one view, one view.

I mean, all of their reports on this president have been a critical, every single one. They don't do any other reporting that isn't. Ninety-nine percent --

CHAFFETZ: Laura --

LOGAN: -- of the people they hired to write editorials are against the president. So that's the context in which I view this.

CHAFFETZ: Lara, we are going to interrupt you here for a moment because you have President Trump there with the First Lady Melania Trump, you have Tiffany, we're told, his daughter, has also joined them on Marine One. They are in South Dakota.

This is a White House video in feed of the president as he is able to fly close right there in front of Mount Rushmore, great site for the president and I think good for the country to see the president visiting one of our great national monuments.

He will be back on the ground and when he does land back on the ground, FOX News will cover that live and you will hear his remarks right here on this network.

Joe, I want to go to you. You cover -- you write about this daily, about the bias in the media, and they even tried to tie it to Abraham Lincoln somehow, that he is somehow racist along the way, too. But what I see with the "Los Angeles Times" and so many others are doing, it seems so foreign to me. It really does.

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JOE CONCHA, MEDIA REPORTER FOR THE HILL: Fifteen, Jason, presidents have visited Mount Rushmore, OK? Democrat, Republican. But when the 45th president actually visits Mount Rushmore during an election year, suddenly this is somehow a racist sort of event.

It's remarkable and to many Americans, to Lara's point, we see what's going on here, right? Within the corridors of New York and Washington, which is where national media is located, basically many, but not all in those corridors say that, OK, this is what's going on here or maybe Washington or Lincoln or Hans Christian Heg, those statues need to be taken down because somehow, they are racist.

But yet, here we go good with the president of the United States just doing a simple campaign event at Mount Rushmore, that's a racist event. I'm sorry. It's so transparent now what's going on here in terms of what we are going to see here during the 2020 election and we're only, what, 120 days away from election day as far as bias.

It's not even bias anymore, it's activism by many in media in terms of we need to get Joe Biden elected to get Donald Trump out and it's something that quite frankly I think the jig is up at this point as far as the American people, at least the objective ones, understanding what is going on here as far as coverage of this president and of his opponent which, by the way, never got any remotely, remotely tough questions during his so- called "press conference" a couple of days ago where he wasn't asked about, for instance, defending the police in New York City, $1 billion taken away, yet 46 percent of shootings are up in that city, can't ask him about that.

CHAFFETZ: Yes.

CONCHA: Can't ask him about the fact that in the Russia, a lot of Russia comments as far as that bounty on that story that's been highly disputed, but yet no one asked him, well, during your administration, Crimea was invaded and Russia went to war with Ukraine basically, yet your administration did nothing. Why should we take you seriously as far as Vladimir Putin?

You go as far as the questions towards Joe Biden and what the coverage is of Donald Trump and quite frankly, again, it's very, very apparent how this is going to go, but the American people get at this point, Jason.

CHAFFETZ: Joe and Laura, we do appreciate you, thank you so much for joining us here on this beautiful Friday night.

We want to go back down to the ground with the latest update of what's happening there at Mount Rushmore with our own Jonathan Hunt who is on the ground -- Jonathan.

HUNT: Hello, again, Jason. We just had a pretty extraordinary fly past by the presidential helicopter, Marine One, bringing President Trump here flanked by two Ospreys, an extraordinary site and it followed 45 minutes earlier than that of Air Force One as it came in right over Mount Rushmore here is the president headed towards Ellsworth Air Force Base where Air Force One landed.

And I have to tell you, Jason, as a new American citizen myself, it doesn't matter what your politics are. When you see Air Force One flying over Mount Rushmore, when you see Marine One flying over Mount Rushmore, it is an extraordinary site, and you can't help but be proud of the United States of America.

Of course, this event is not without politics. We have the politics of coronavirus, of course. No social distancing here, very few people wearing masks here in the governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, will introduce President Trump later this evening saying that she does not think social distancing is necessary and she is not requiring anybody to wear a mask, although they are available if people want them.

You've also got the politics of the land here, the Lakota Sioux still believe that it belongs to them and they want it back. They have been out on the streets approaching Mount Rushmore with some other anti-Trump protesters this afternoon, brief clashes with National Guard troops, around two dozen as we understand it, members of the National Guard on scene there as well as obviously many other branches of law enforcement.

The protesters attacked them vehicles on the side of the road. As we understand it, they were eventually driven out of that road. They had hoped to get a glimpse of president Trump on those roads, obviously, that was never going to happen. He purely traveled here by air. And as we understand it, I believe according to my producer, Matt, he is on the ground here, Marine One, has indeed landed, the president is on the ground and we will be hearing from him later.

As well as the literal fireworks we will get, Jason, I think we're going to get some fireworks in his speech as well. The president we are told will decry what he will call a left-wing mob that is trying to destroy in his view and continues to try to destroy in his view American history. So, we're going to get fireworks from the president, and when he wraps up, we'll get fireworks over Mount Rushmore, right behind me here, Jason.

CHAFFETZ: Jonathan, thank you.

When the president does speak, you will hear that live here on FOX News. We do expect to see the pictures of President Trump's motorcade as he goes to the amphitheater at Mount Rushmore. That should happen shortly.

Now, the president tonight is poised to use his speech at the iconic memorial to appeal to silent majority and let common sense Americans across the country know that celebrating our great nation is nothing to be ashamed of, and to remind Americans that left-wing lawlessness we see ravaging our major cities isn't a move towards progress, but a decline towards anarchy and destruction, and it's why Joe Biden and the radical left must be defeated in November because Biden has surrendered to the most extreme elements of his party while he hides out in his basement and makes blunder after blunder.

Now, President Trump last night even challenged Biden to take a cognitive test, to prove he is up for the job, tweeting, quote, he cannot pass the test I aced. He should give it a try.

Joining me now for a reaction, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, along with coauthor of the new book "They're Not Listening: How the Elites Created the National Populist Revolution", Ryan Girdusky. I'm sorry for not pronouncing your name right.

RYAN GIRDUSKY, AUTHOR, "THEY'RE NOT LISTENING": It's all right.

CHAFFETZ: And Texas congressional candidate Wesley Hunt. Thank you so much for joining us here tonight.

Wesley, I want to start with you. First of all, thank you for your service to your nation, I really -- we cannot thank you for your service in our United States military. But as you see things playing out in Mount Rushmore and some of the calls and the accusations that are out there, what runs through your mind?

WESLEY HUNT (R-TX), U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, the first thing that run through my mind is that Mount Rushmore has been here forever, and what I want to talk about is the idea of bringing our country together and those that want to call for the demise or the besmirching of Mount Rushmore only want to continue to divide our country further.

CHAFFETZ: Now, Pam, you are the former attorney general for the state of Florida. You worked tirelessly on a lot of these issues, but as you see what is happening out of Mount Rushmore, the allegations going out there, what runs through your mind?

PAM BONDI, FORMER FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, the president is a law and order president. That -- what happened in Portland, what happened in Seattle will not happen in South Dakota. You know, the president is not going to let anything happen to any of our monuments, especially the shrine of democracy, Mount Rushmore.

So, the president is going to stand up to that. I love the crowd out there. I'm so excited. I spoke to the president yesterday and I know he's so excited to be there today with everyone in South Dakota.

It's going to be a great event, and that's what our country needs now, this independent state where he needs to show the country what he's doing to enhance all of our monuments, protect our monuments and as a law and order president and will continue to do that for the next four years and I'm so proud he's out there.

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CHAFFETZ: You were looking live now at some pictures as we were just hearing from Pam Bondi, but this is a Marine One landing. The president will then be going on a motorcade to the actual event where he will be speaking, all of those comments given live here on FOX News.

We do believe the president was joined by Melania Trump, the first lady, as well as his daughter Tiffany, usually Secret Service aboard the plane, I don't know if there is any staff. It's a little different plane than we normally see, but as the president lands there at Mount Rushmore and this historic visit, we are going to cover it from wall to wall, so that you can see and experience all of this.

The president landed earlier at Ellsworth Air Force Base there in South Dakota. He was met by Senator Thune and Kristi Noem who was the governor of South Dakota. And I can tell you through personal experience and discussions I've had with Kristi Noem back in 2017, she invited the president that at some point if she became the governor of South Dakota, which she did in winning that election that she was going to invite him to come to Mount Rushmore, and we see that playing out here in 2020.

So the president expected to get off Marine One, and I want to go back to our guest as we watch the president get off of Marine One as they kind secure the aircraft there.

Ryan, I want to go to you. What's your take on -- hold on for just a moment. Let's just watch as President Trump gets off Marine One. Like he said, we expect him to get into a motorcade. We don't think that there is any sort of reception line at this point, that happened at Ellsworth Air Force Base, there is what I presume to be Secret Service, and I don't know who that person is who just got off the head of the president. There was the security detail, and --

Oh, that's Mark Meadows. Mark Meadows and his wife, the chief of staff from North Carolina. That was Mark Meadows and the woman in red there is Mark's wife.

So, Ryan, let's go to you. When you see all this playing out, all this silliness with a dull maxi with protests and calling it white supremacy and everything, what runs through your mind?

GIRDUSKY: Yes, thank you so much for having me. I think the main point is when you look at the far left and the tactics they're using right now to send their end, erase our history and really move our window, what they are doing right now is making a conversation about defunding the police acceptable and right now in New York city where I am, having the shootings go up 100 percent, mostly in communities of color, those that they pretend to care about.

And there's also something we are not talking about enough that this is an economic conversation. If you're poor in this country, if you're working class poor, whether you're white, brown, or black, they were two primary ways to get out of poverty, through the military or the police.

And I don't think that -- I think that by defunding police and by removing that opportunity, you are keeping people in poverty. It's something that Republicans need to champion at this time.

CHAFFETZ: Yes, I want to go back to Wesley, because you're running an election. I've never seen a national party do well by attacking law enforcement and ICE and everything else.

When you are on the ground there in Texas campaigning, what do you say about law enforcement?

HUNT: You know, right now, we need to mention that we support our law enforcement and make sure we work together and bring the people from the community with our law enforcement to ensure that we come to viable solutions that benefit both sides. And what I'm seeing right now particularly on the campaign trail in Houston, Texas, is also an assault on the oil and gas industry that we have got to protect.

And earlier, you were talking about the cognitive ability of Joe Biden, and Joe Biden and AOC and my opponent, Lizzie Fletcher, when you talk about what they would do to oil and gas industry here in Houston, combined with the idea of defunding the police, it is not what we want to see, and particularly in a time when we are talking about energy independence when tomorrow is our Independence Day, we have got to keep that together.

And my brother, my sister, my father, and I all fought to make sure that we kept our independence, and that's what today and tomorrow is about and I am glad the president is at Mount Rushmore to support that.

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